"We do not have and cannot have any other unifying idea other than patriotism," Putin said at the meeting with the Leaders Club on Wednesday.

He noted that business, officials and all citizens are working to make the country stronger "because every citizen will live better, will have larger income, will be more comfortable and so on. This is in fact the national idea."

The Russian president said that this idea is not an ideology and is not connected with the work of any party or any social structure. "It is connected with the unifying principle - if we want to live better, we need the country to be more attractive for all citizens, more effective, and both officials and state apparatus should become more effective," he added.

It is not enough for the president or anyone else to say it once to introduce the national idea, Putin went on. "For this, conscience is needed, and this should be talked about at all levels all the time," he concluded.